The man was able to wiggle his way out from underneath Gilman and escape. He didn't know Gilman, but recognized her as "a drug user from the area," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported at the time. It took more than a year for DNA evidence to link Gilman to the crime, and she was charged with second-degree rape last September.

During police questioning, Gilman denied being in the victim’s home or having sex with him. Court and police records do not indicate how Gilman got into the man’s apartment. Gilman told investigators that she “has a mental illness and suffers from Bipolar disorder and Psychosis,” [Detective Roger] Ishimitsu reported.